Pros and Cons of Sink in Island
queenofmycastle0221
13 years ago
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hsw_sc
13 years agobreezygirl
13 years agoRelated Discussions
Pros/cons of counter height vs 2 tier bar height island?
Comments (4)I have 2 tiered at our lake house and counter height at home. I love each of them in their respective spaces, and I think a lot depends on your layout & how you plan to use the island. Our home island seats four - not all lined up, but 2 stools on each of a short & long end. It is a single top slab -no prep sink/cooktop - and is essentially our everyday eating spot. It's open to a sunroom/seating area so I can chat with anyone sitting there without them being on top of me while I work. At the lake house the bar height helps denote the space between the kitchen & LR in the open floor plan. We entertain casually there and the higher tier works well as a place to put out appetizers and drinks while still allowing the counter height level to continue to be used for food prep. One thing to consider is whether small children will be sitting at the island regularly. Bar height stools can be hard to climb onto and rather high up for toddlers & pre schoolers. My Dad who is in his mid 80's finds my counter height seating easier to manage than bar height. Just some thoughts to consider....See Morepros and cons of an island (and an island vs. a table)
Comments (12)As RHome410 & ShannonPlus2 mentioned, I prefer a table for family meals. Sitting around a table is more conducive to meal-time conversation & family bonding. Oh, and no TV! Also like ShannonPlus2's mother, my mother finds counter-height seating uncomfortable...but in her case for her back. She needs something under her feet to bring her legs/knees up to the "proper" sitting height...which means propping them up w/boxes. To be honest, I'm also finding that as much as I like our stools, I don't like having to perch my feet on edge of the stool frame...it gets uncomfortable after awhile--for my feet. (My DH wants to put in a bar foot rail along the back of our peninsula for foot perching!) But, I do have to admit when I'm at a party, I prefer standing around an island to sitting at a table. As others have said, islands can make a kitchen more or less functional...it all depends on how you design your kitchen and space you have to work with. So many people try to cram an island in just b/c everyone has one, or b/c they think it's "the" thing right now, or b/c they've been at home where an island really works...so they think they want one too, no matter what!...See MoreCooktop in Island Pros and Cons
Comments (20)I considered an island cooktop long before I came to GW, but I decided against it for a reason I haven't seen discussed much here yet: raised gas burners and tall pots. I have at least one really large party every year (Mardi Gras), where I do a massive amount of cooking. I have other large events, but that one is the largest, usually with over 100 people. I have a five-burner setup, and when I'm preparing for these gatherings, all five have very large pots on them, including a wide 9-qt dutch oven, two 12-qt stockpots, a 16-qt stockpot, and a huge 30-qt stock pot. With the cooktop so crowded, I am always worried about one of my pots toppling over. With raised gas burners on an island cooktop, and with all those people in my house, I don't think I would be able to enjoy my party worried about a huge pot of gumbo or jambalaya turning over onto someone. My kitchen is not large, but it is a decent size (14'9"x26'), and I couldn't figure out a configuration where an island cooktop wouldn't make me worried about safety issues. Perhaps if I cooked with induction or even electric I wouldn't worry, but with gas burners, I would be a nervous wreck. I also think the kitchen would be unbearably hot with all five burners going for most of the day before the party, unless I had a really strong island vent hood. Downdraft wouldn't cut it with all my tall pots. I also do a lot of cooking that produces a ton of steam. For example, when we do low country boils, I have those huge pots going and they have to be drained into the sink. I would hate to have to carry those pots far, but even worse, I would hate to have my kitchen filled with all that steam. We live in Florida, and we have enough heat and humidity without adding to it that much ourselves! Having the whole island to spread out all the prepared food is wonderful for these events, because that kind of food takes up a lot of room. All that said, I have found the social aspect of the kitchen to be fabulous with my current setup. The way I cook, most of my cooking is done before guests arrive, so I am just occasionally turning to the stove for a quick stir. By having the island free for prep and for layout out munchies as they are ready, my guests and I enjoy lots of worry-free interaction around my island. I have had several gatherings where guests made their own food around the island. One was a sushi-making party, and a few have been pizza-making parties. I LOVE having almost the entire island available for laying out ingredients and for people to stand around the edges working. The only thing interrupting my island surface is a prep sink, but we use it frequently during both sushi and pizza events, so losing that island space was worthwhile. So the decision to have or not to have an island cooktop does depend a lot on cooking styles and kitchen configuration. Still, because I like to entertain, and because I like to try a wide range of cooking methods, I......See MorePros & Cons of Butcher Block Top on Island
Comments (17)Hi, I am another who has had a butcher block island for more than 20 years. It has been a love-hate relationship. I loved the look but hated the upkeep, particularly when my kids where small and there were more important things to do. The Bad: around the sink, we often got black stains, tin cans would leave black circles and berries and wine would stain it. Bleach cured the stains but the black marks needed to be scraped and sanded. I did this several times over the years. Also, though I used a cutting board, other people assumed butcher block meant cutting board so there were lots of small nicks and knife marks. I did oil it with mineral oil but probably not enough. I have been looking forward to an easy care granite counter which will be coming next Spring when I finally renovate. The good: several months ago, I was fed up with the way it looked and knew we were a long way from granite, so my husband got out the belt sander and went to it. The sawdust was unbelievable and went everywhere but when it was done, the now almost new looking counter had a nice uniform colour. I used a food safe finish that I suspect is something like waterlox and it looks amazing. Water beads on it and foods wipe up easily with no staining. And no more black marks. The wood is very nice to work on - warm and soft. So now I am wondering if I wouldn't like some in the new kitchen after all!. Good luck on your choices....See Moreinthehollow
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